Could the Big Ten [[B1G) basketball tourney come to Detroit????

**emu steve** · May-06-14, 11:42 AM

The B1G has announced that its basketball tourney will come to the Verizon Center in D.C. 2017.

I believe they'd like to have it one year in New York City.

It would seem, to me, that they would consider Detroit as part of a rotation with Indy and Chicago.

I'm guessing that like the Super Bowl they'll rotate it to more cities than the two which host it now...

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...--D.C.-in-2017

**Bham1982** · May-06-14, 11:42 AM

Good for Auburn Hills, I guess.

**emu steve** · May-06-14, 11:48 AM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

Good for Auburn Hills, I guess.

I didn't [[don't) mean to start a civil war but the day the Ilitch arena opens there will be competition between the two venues for events such as NCAA basketball tourneys, B1G tourney [[if they opt to include another Midwest city).

This will be a growing story the day after ground in broken.

The NCAA basketball tourney committee will have two venues in the Detroit metro area to choose from. The tourney has a history with the Palace but will have a brand new arena as competition.

**DetroitPlanner** · May-06-14, 11:59 AM

Why not Ford Field like the final four?

Detroit is an easy drive for most of the big ten, they could sell it.

**Spartan** · May-06-14, 12:02 PM

No way they do it at the Palace, as patrons get kicked out for 2 hours between sessions. They need somewhere to go in between. The new arena and Ford Field are possible, but I think unlikely since neither is built for basketball. I think there's a better chance of getting the football CCG than basketball in Detroit.

**emu steve** · May-06-14, 01:12 PM

Originally Posted by Spartan

No way they do it at the Palace, as patrons get kicked out for 2 hours between sessions. They need somewhere to go in between. The new arena and Ford Field are possible, but I think unlikely since neither is built for basketball. I think there's a better chance of getting the football CCG than basketball in Detroit.

What is problematic about the CCG [[B1G) is that the MAC has their CCG game the same weekend and I doubt Ford Field wants to boot one tenant for another, regardless of whether it makes business sense [[to do so).

One can speculate that the B1G has 'driven' the MAC out from the Little Caesars Bowl in favor of a B1G bowl game and could do similar as far as CCG is concerned.

**emu steve** · May-06-14, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by Spartan

No way they do it at the Palace, as patrons get kicked out for 2 hours between sessions. They need somewhere to go in between. The new arena and Ford Field are possible, but I think unlikely since neither is built for basketball. I think there's a better chance of getting the football CCG than basketball in Detroit.

Hmmmmmmmmmmm. The light just went on

Arena at the corner of Woodward and the Fisher, two hours to kill between sessions, and Hockeytown also at the corner of Woodward and the Fisher.

I think I just built a 'business case' for the Ilitches trying to get the B1G hoops tourney.

And isn't there a hotel/casino owned by that family 'just down the road'.

Damn, the 'business case' gets stronger and stronger.

And I just did a 'business case' for a hotel in the Arena District which is priced for sports fans who are coming from out of town [[e.g., for a Tigers' weekend series, Lions, B1G hoops tourney, B1G bowl game, etc. etc.).

**SDCC** · May-06-14, 01:24 PM

This event lights up downtown Indy...would be a great event for Detroit...

**Spartan** · May-06-14, 01:38 PM

Originally Posted by emu steve

What is problematic about the CCG [[B1G) is that the MAC has their CCG game the same weekend and I doubt Ford Field wants to boot one tenant for another, regardless of whether it makes business sense [[to do so).

One can speculate that the B1G has 'driven' the MAC out from the Little Caesars Bowl in favor of a B1G bowl game and could do similar as far as CCG is concerned.

Well, the MAC plays Friday night. I'm not sure the logistics of trying to play two games in a row. I could see the MAC pushing their game to Thursday, or even a different week potentially. Or hell, Indianapolis can host it that year haha.

**emu steve** · May-06-14, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by Spartan

Well, the MAC plays Friday night. I'm not sure the logistics of trying to play two games in a row. I could see the MAC pushing their game to Thursday, or even a different week potentially. Or hell, Indianapolis can host it that year haha.

The MAC tried Thursday night and it bombed as folks found a week night too difficult.

I think Friday night [[MAC) / Saturday [[B1G) would be work.

It might even be a 'neat' thing.

I believe the high school championship games are played over a two-day period [[after Thanksgiving).

The bigger problem IS [[I think) if the Lions are home the day after the B1G CCG. That Saturday wouldn't be available to the B1G.

**Spartan** · May-06-14, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by emu steve

The MAC tried Thursday night and it bombed as folks found a week night too difficult.

I think Friday night [[MAC) / Saturday [[B1G) would be work.

It might even be a 'neat' thing.

I believe the high school championship games are played over a two-day period [[after Thanksgiving).

The bigger problem IS [[I think) if the Lions are home the day after the B1G CCG. That Saturday wouldn't be available to the B1G.

Doesn't affect Indianapolis, not sure why it would affect Detroit

**EastsideAl** · May-06-14, 03:36 PM

Once the new arena is built I think its a gimmie that the NCAA hockey tournament [[aka the Frozen Four) will return to Detroit. The Big Ten basketball tournament is also a possibility, although given the interest around here Ford Field may actually be a more appropriate venue. And I've always wondered why Ford Field is not in the rotation for the B10 football championship game, since UM and MSU draw some of the biggest crowds in the conference and are so close.

Right now though it seems that the Big Ten is enthralled with what it thinks are the possibilities of its new east coast markets [[gained through the additions of Maryland and Rutgers), and seems to want to move its big events out that way. I think those markets will eventually prove disappointing, particularly for the big prize - college football [[anyone who has ever lived in NYC knows that college football gets almost no interest there, and certainly not for a Jersey school like Rutgers), and the Big Ten will come back to its roots here in the midwest, which should mean good things for Detroit.

**douglasm** · May-06-14, 04:30 PM

Anyone else have a problem with the tourney in Washington D.C. or New York? The closest team would be Penn State, right? Detroit, Chicago and/or Indy make more sense from a fan's travel viewpoint.

**EastsideAl** · May-06-14, 04:43 PM

Originally Posted by douglasm

Anyone else have a problem with the tourney in Washington D.C. or New York? The closest team would be Penn State, right? Detroit, Chicago and/or Indy make more sense from a fan's travel viewpoint.

The conference will be adding Maryland and Rutgers starting with this upcoming football season.

**emu steve** · May-06-14, 04:44 PM

Originally Posted by douglasm

Anyone else have a problem with the tourney in Washington D.C. or New York? The closest team would be Penn State, right? Detroit, Chicago and/or Indy make more sense from a fan's travel viewpoint.

Douglas,

Rutgers was mentioned [[for NYC), but Maryland is a subway ride from the Verizon Center.

That said, will folks from E. Lansing, Ann Arbor, Madison, etc. want to come to D.C. for a tourney or will they sit at home and watch it in HD?

P.S. Cherry Blossoms don't come out until the last week of March or first week of April.

Prediction: B1G will go to NYC once [[and maybe a 2nd time) but ONCE and only once to D.C. I can't see good things happening.

Some folks will try anything once...

**emu steve** · May-06-14, 04:56 PM

Al, I agree with all of your post.

I think the B1G FB [[and basketball) championships/tourney should be moved a bit more.

Detroit would be a good 'neutral' city for both as part of a rotation.

I'm willing to bet that the B1G in the next say four to seven years offers to bring the tourney to the new arena. 2018 would be nice.

**emu steve** · May-15-14, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by emu steve

The B1G has announced that its basketball tourney will come to the Verizon Center in D.C. 2017.

I believe they'd like to have it one year in New York City.

It would seem, to me, that they would consider Detroit as part of a rotation with Indy and Chicago.

I'm guessing that like the Super Bowl they'll rotate it to more cities than the two which host it now...

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...--D.C.-in-2017

Amazing but the MSU AD apparently was reading my mind or this thread or great minds think alike...

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...-championships

"“I think where we’re at right now, every AD is going to lobby for their position,” he said. “We have great relationships with The Palace and with Ford Field and all the things Dan Gilbert and everyone is doing down in Detroit is really making it an amazing, uplifting kind of experience down there, and I think we have a new Detroit to sell, versus maybe the stereotypes.
“I was blown away going down to the area that’s down there by the Quicken Loans offices that he’s built, and it’s dynamic, it’s a place where young people now want to go work. If we can capture some of that excitement, I think Ford Field or The Palace are great venues for us.”

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/2...#ixzz31o24zM1J

And sir, the new hockey arena is closer to all that good stuff you discuss then the Palace.

And sir, more free advice:

Push for a 4-year rotations with Chicago, Indy and Detroit and the fourth year being D.C. or N.Y.C. [[that would put the tourney in D.C. every eight years and same for N.Y.C.).

**emu steve** · May-15-14, 12:31 PM

And, of course, the MAC can have their FB championship game on Friday night and the B1G on Saturday. Big FB weekend in the D.

**Bham1982** · May-15-14, 01:01 PM

Originally Posted by emu steve

Douglas,

Rutgers was mentioned [[for NYC), but Maryland is a subway ride from the Verizon Center.

And Rutgers is a quick train ride from Manhattan.

But really, the Northeast Corridor doesn't care that much for college football. Big 10 football will always be centered in the Midwest.

The "where" is unimportant, though. Wherever they have it, the fans will come, and, for the average TV viewer, it's irrelevent.

**emu steve** · May-19-14, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by Bham1982

And Rutgers is a quick train ride from Manhattan.

But really, the Northeast Corridor doesn't care that much for college football. Big 10 football will always be centered in the Midwest.

The "where" is unimportant, though. Wherever they have it, the fans will come, and, for the average TV viewer, it's irrelevent.

Bham1982:

I'm not sure I follow your comment about football.

I don't remember any discussed plans to play the B1G FB championship in either NYC area or D.C. area.

I thought all of the plans only had to do with the B1G basketball tourney.

If the B1G is foolish and wants to move their B1G championship game to a site other than Detroit, they can go to Cincy [[but why?????) which, even though outdoors, might be 7 - 10 degrees warmer than CHI, CLE, etc. Early December is usually mild in Cincy.

**EastsideAl** · May-19-14, 12:43 PM

As part of their strategy to bring the Big 10 to the northeast I think it's highly likely that the Big 10 will take its football championship game to the Meadowlands in the next few years. After all, the real point of this expansion is to to try to turn the big metro areas there into hotbeds for college football viewing [[or at least for the Big 10 Network), which is the real big money enchilada. Basketball by comparison is just some chips and salsa as an appetizer.

**emu steve** · May-19-14, 01:58 PM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

As part of their strategy to bring the Big 10 to the northeast I think it's highly likely that the Big 10 will take its football championship game to the Meadowlands in the next few years. After all, the real point of this expansion is to to try to turn the big metro areas there into hotbeds for college football viewing [[or at least for the Big 10 Network), which is the real big money enchilada. Basketball by comparison is just some chips and salsa as an appetizer.

Maybe, but I think not.

Basketball conference tourneys work at neutral sites because a hoops tourney is held over multiple days with all [[or most) teams participating in at least one game. [The MAC sends only 8 teams to CLE].

A MSU or UofM fan might be willing to go to NYC thinking he'll be there for multiple days. Ditto someone from WI or OSU.

So many or most teams' fans have an interest in making the trip.

For FB, it is two schools who have to make the trip... Do 30K MSU fans want to go to the Meadowlands? 30K OSU fans?

**EastsideAl** · May-19-14, 05:13 PM

Originally Posted by emu steve

Maybe, but I think not.

Basketball conference tourneys work at neutral sites because a hoops tourney is held over multiple days with all [[or most) teams participating in at least one game. [The MAC sends only 8 teams to CLE].

A MSU or UofM fan might be willing to go to NYC thinking he'll be there for multiple days. Ditto someone from WI or OSU.

So many or most teams' fans have an interest in making the trip.

For FB, it is two schools who have to make the trip... Do 30K MSU fans want to go to the Meadowlands? 30K OSU fans?

First of all, I think you far too easily discount the number of Big 10 alums in the NYC area and other northeast metro areas. I'm an MSU alum and when I lived in NYC and attended MSU sports events in that part of the country a very large portion of the crowd was always made up of locally-residing State fans. Some of the other Big 10 schools have many more alumni in the area than MSU. Michigan sure as hell does. You can hardly swing a cat in the NYC area without hitting a UM grad.

And I'm sure there would also be a substantial number of people willing to make the trip to what is, lets face it, a far more attractive destination than Indianapolis. Newark is only about 1.5 hours from Metro, and less than 2 out of O'Hare or Midway.

But the main thing is that, while the live gate is important, it is not the prime consideration. The real money is in TV, along with the ratings and the ad rates it creates. The whole point of bringing Rutgers and Maryland into the conference was to gain many more potential eyes for the Big 10 Network and the conference's other TV partners, thereby upping the ad value of their games and making them more attractive to both networks and advertisers.

They want and need greater exposure in northeastern markets, particularly NYC [[which is several times larger than any other market in the country, with the ad rates to show for it), for this gamble to work. A championship game in the region seems like a natural way to drum up some of that interest, and potentially make a bundle in the process.